I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times; Nisha J. Tuli doesn't miss! Truly, her books take a piece of my heart after each one I finish. The Nightfire Quartet did it, and I fully expect the Artefacts of Ouranos to do so as well!

Trial's opening line sets the tone of our main character, Lor, perfectly!

“That b*itch took my soap.”

Why does a bar of soap matter? Well Lor and her siblings have been imprisoned in the most heinous of prisons- where everyday necessities and food are scarce, and the guards are cruel. The scenes that follow set up the future conflict perfectly, and also increase the stakes for our FMC. She's fierce, tough as nails, (possibly unlikeable for some?) and willing to do what it takes to survive. She only knows the world through the prison, so the worldbuilding is pretty minimal at first.

She ends up as Tribute in a competition to become the Sun Queen. She has to survive the trials in order to free herself and have the power to also free her siblings. Almost like a Hunger Games meets The Bachelor situation. High stakes!

As she navigates life at court as a human among fae, she tries to make allies, but trusting anyone may come with too high a price. Lor questions everything and everyone - and has an absolutely terrible fear of the Aurora King finding her and sending her back to prison.

Atlas, the Sun King, seems like a dream come true. He's sweet and helpful with secrets for passing each challenge. He makes her feel like life on the outside is truly possible. If only she could make it to the end of the competition!

And then we have the Aurora Prince. He's on the hunt to find Lor. Ruthless and cunning, he is seeking answers to questions he can't shake. He'll use her against his father, he just doesn't know why yet. Is her enemy? Oh yeah. Is he also tall, dark and handsome? Maybe…

I loved the pacing for this book- it is fast and very bingeable. The arc of the plot moves things along without weighing our characters down with too many details about the world. And of course, we get several excellent twists throughout!

That ending had me reaching for Book 2 immediately! Because what!!

Thanks to @readforeverpub for the e-book!

Finally read this! And I need the next book!

There's nothing new here. I felt like some things were painfully obvious but the journey was fun. Even though the story left much to be desired, I thought the pacing was excellent! The ending trials with all the yelling was meh and idk who else was in the trial from the beginning but overall enjoyable.

Honestly, I'm attempting to focus on my owned physical books right now so the fact that I want to drop everything and continue this series is a plus for this book.

Stories revolving around trials are some of my favourites, and this one proved to be no different! I knew before starting this book that it would become a favourite, but for unbeknownst reasons to me, I kept postponing it until now!

Following Lor’s story, it was clear that there was more to her backstory that we weren’t getting, and the hints that were being casually dropped here and there were not enough to spoil the reveal.

I also enjoy a villain in disguise! This is a bit of a spoiler, but my reaction to Atlas from the get-go was that he was too good to be true. And the more we got to see from him, the more this feeling became more of a conviction. I am still on the fence on whether Gabriel is actually that loyal to Atlas or if he’s going to turn out to be a double agent.

Lor and Nadir being fated mates was a bit too on the nose, but it justified Nadir getting his POV chapters. I look forward to seeing more of their interactions in the second book.

This story reminded me a lot of ACOTAR but not as fast paced. The storyline is definitely a slow burner but I’m happy I quit putting it off and finally read it. Definitely excited for book 2, I’m hoping this was just the ground work for what will be an amazing series.

This was sort of a surprising disappointment for me. I've seen a lot of Tik Tok hype around this book so I was really looking forward to getting a chance to finally read it and see for myself.

I wasn't super impressed though unfortunately. It's a solid read, but leaned more juvenile than adult even with the spicy scenes. The main character just kept making really poor decisions, and she knew it too, but she kept doing it. Also I have to mention how frequently she mentioned how long her hair was! It drove me crazy! Which is such a lame nitpick 😂 But seriously it felt like any chapter that had a slight time jump, she mentioned it.

I'll probably still continue with the series because I do think it has potential to find it's footing.

4.75/5 stars! I love this book so much. It has hunger-game and savage land themes but adds in a cultural lens that was much needed in those. I devoured this in one sitting and cannot wait to read the rest of the series. I agree with some of the complaints that some side characters lacked development, but I'm hoping this is corrected across the span of the series.

I loved this book very much. The trials were very adventurous and entertaining. Lor is a great FMC. I cannot wait to continue on with the series and find out what happens next and how Nadir and Lor find each other

WOW. This story hooked me immediately, and I can tell it isn't letting me go anytime soon.

I was rooting and feeling for the FMC from the get-go, but there is a whole cast of characters here that I'm already loving and fiercely hating. Then others that are so gray that I'm undecided.

This first book is clearly setting up for the rest of the series, and does it perfectly. I have an idea of what the history and beliefs of the world are, tons of questions for how our characters got here, and how they'll move forwards. Perfectly paced plot that's balanced with the information we need. Not much romance in this one, but I knew going in that this is a slow burn. On top of that? I was fat too entertained to look for it.

Trial of the Sun King absolutely devoured me and then I devoured it right back. The “Bachelor meets Hunger Games” vibe pulled me in and the execution kept me up reading way too late.

Lor is such a compelling main character. She’s tough, defiant, and emotionally raw. I loved watching her navigate this brutal, glittering world. The trials were intense and fun, the romantic tension hit just right (hello, slow burn), and even though I saw one or two things coming, the twists still landed.

The world could have been fleshed out a bit more and a few scenes dragged, but honestly I didn’t mind. I was having too much fun. If you’re a fan of ACOTAR, political power games, and dangerously charming fae royals, don’t sleep on this one.

🌞 BOOK / REVIEW 👑

I am utterly gagged with all of the amazing #romantasy books on the shelves right now. I went from total apprehension of this genre to absolute adoration at how incredibly unique, fun, and nail-biting it is.

I just tore through #trialofthesunking by @nishajtwrites and came here to share my thoughts immediately. I LOVED THIS BOOK SO FREAKING MUCH. Its bachelor vs. Hunger Games description did *not* disappoint. It was highly engaging, and the pace of the book was perfect.

I love that this one didn't quite end the way I initially hoped. As more of the story unfolded, it felt too good to be true. I simply can't give away too much, as I need everyone to pick this book up NOW.

The spice level is 🌶🌶, but the vibes are so freaking high. This is also part of a series and I just loaded the next installment on my Kindle thanks to @netgalley.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A good start to a series. I liked the aspect of the trials and really intrigued to see where this is going. I am very intrigued with the Aurora Prince and his role everything. Quick, easy read romantasy start.

Hi. Here to say that I am the worst for waiting this long to read this book. I even bought this book because it's pretty, and bought the rest of the books because now I am invested and need to finish this ASAP.

I am so here for the slow burn! I love it! (I'm in the middle of book two and the tension is fire!). Anyway, book one was such a fun, quick read. I flew through it. Thank you for giving me this arc, and apologies again for taking so long to get to it. But I'm also happy because now I don't have to wait for the rest of the books.

This is really late, but I finally read it. I have such mixed feelings over this book. I devoured it because it was entertaining but there were so many things I really disliked. Everything felt underdeveloped, the villian was way too obvious right away because of the only other person with chapters dedicated to them, and while self aware, the FMC still kept being straight up stupid based on her horrid past.
I'm going to check out book two in the hopes that i gets better because this one really did have a lot of promise.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Central Grand Publishing) for a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review!

Overall, I had so much fun reading this book, it was a 4 star read for me. I cannot wait to continue the series and unravel the mysteries. It’s definitely got The Bachelor meets Hunger Games meets High Fae (ACOTAR) vibes - which makes it extra fun and enticing.

This is my first book from Nisha J Tuli and it did not disappoint, I enjoyed how she wrote the story and the plot, and the writing was fairly straightforward and depicted what needed to be shown to make a riveting story!

We follow our FMC Lor throughout her journey in the prison in Aurora and then in the Sun Queen trials in Aphelion. I really like Lor as an FMC, she is strong, spirited and determined. She does not take any crap from anyone and tries, as much as possible, to forge her own path. Gabriel is another character I really enjoyed seeing on the pages, and hope we see more of in Book2! Now also feeling curious about Nadir as we move into the next book.

The book itself was pretty fast paced, I felt like we moved through things at a good pace and none of the trials felt like they dragged on too long. I did feel like some of the scenes with Sun King dragged a bit for me or felt strange and not always very necessary. I loved the twists and reveals towards the end, and am excited for more of those and possibly some confirmation, in the next few books!

Worldbuilding to me was not a lot in this book, we are really only seeing it from Lor’s perspective and since she’s been in prison most of her life, I’m not sure on how much of a worldview and understanding she has. I hope we get more of the world building and lore (which we usually do) in the second book as it was lacking a bit for me here. Despite that, I think I was still able to piece things together and really enjoy the story!

Highly recommend this series start to all romantasy and ACOTAR lovers, I will definitely be continuing on!

I enjoyed this story so much! I had such fun reading this tale and diving deep into this world. Nisha did such a good job of building the world around these characters!

I would love to interview Nisha on my podcast after April! This book was so much fun. The pacing was good and the characters are likable.

The first line of the book hooked me. I laughed out loud with it. I loved the concept and can't wait to read the rest of the series.

The cover is also gorgeous.

This book was SO good! This was a 6 star read for me. I could not put this down and I cannot wait to continue the series. This story has such wonderful character building, great banter and is just an overall good time.

I appreciate this story so much. You have a strong MFC, she is not whiny, shes a survivalist. She does not complain she gets it done, regardless if it is unfair. This is a slow burn, and the story gets more intense, spicer as it goes. I love the names are easier to read, understand, along with the cities, towns. Not super shoved with adjectives, or useless information, and it unfolds slowly. No information dumping like a majority fantasies do. This was on my favorite reads of 2024. Brilliantly done, and I have read the whole series in a week!

The Selection meets The Hunger Games with a romantasy touch.

Lor has been in a Fae prison for 12 years along with her brother and sister. After being sent to the equivalent of solitary confinement, only much worse, Lor is kidnapped from the prison to take part in the Trials. She’ll compete against other women for the chance to marry the Sun King, the fae ruler of a neighboring kingdom. Of course, since this is the first book of a series, not everything is as it seems.

A quick read that really serves the purpose of introducing the characters while leaving out several back stories. You know that there is more here but just enough is there to get your interest.